As the value and use of information continue to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling system's may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, an information handling system may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The heat generated by information handling system components during operation must be managed to prevent the information handling system from exceeding applicable thermal specifications and becoming potentially unstable and/or temporarily or permanently non-functional. Information handling systems include thermal fans to dissipate heat generated during operation.
Information handling systems may generate heat non-uniformly. For example, one region of an information handling system may generate more heat than another region. In addition, the non-uniform thermal profile may itself vary depending on the system's operational load. Conventionally configured thermal fans for an information handling system are generally fixed in number, position, and orientation, thus limiting their ability to adapt to accommodate a non-uniform and load-dependent thermal profile.